Snapshots
by corikane
Summary: I'm doing this thing where I write short drabbles about ships and right now I'm watching a lot of Criminal Minds - inspiration: Emily and JJ. I haven't written them before nor have a read a lot of ff about them so I hope I'm getting them right. These 'snapshots' don't make a story, they're only just drabbles, situations I see them in. (No copyright infringement intended.)
1. Bulletproof

The case was over and the whole team was in different stages of closing it up. Emily was sitting in the open trunkbed of the black suv they'd arrived in, calming a racing pulse. JJ exited a second black suv, arriving at the scene just now but already prepping herself internally for the questions she was going to answer shortly from excited reporters. She saw Emily, alone and after a short look around went over to her.

"Hey, Hotch just told me, said you tackled the guy?" She tried to sound easy-going, proud when a minute earlier when their boss had told her what had happened, the risk Emily had taken to take the perp down, her stomach had plummeted in fear for the other woman.

"He was about to open fire on everyone, I was closest," Emily said and stood from her seat, standing strong and trying not to let JJ see how scared she'd been and maybe still was. But she didn't even need saying anything, JJ knew and she could see everything she needed to know in Emily's dark eyes.

They looked at each other for a long moment and it could have easily been cut short by any of their colleagues and friends. But the guys had learned long ago that JJ was the person who would calm you down when something went off-script - so off-script that you would have liked to cry if crying was your thing, which it was not for these people. But JJ's presence always calmed their respective nerves, her smile, her loveliness, her charm and humor. She of all people had the power to bring them all back because she was one of those people each member of the team did for what they did.

And now the team knew that Emily needed JJ most. They didn't know how much she needed JJ, or how much JJ needed to be sure that Emily was all right. Which she was through some small wonder. Thanks to the heroic brunette not a single shot had been fired, not a single hostage in that house had lost their life, neither had any of the police or agents… yet it had been close and they both knew it.

JJ smiled but even only looking at Emily had shaken her and she blinked away tears.

"You know what's working for me?" she asked.

Emily laughed at the question, so unexpected from the sweet blonde.

"What does?" she asked, humoring her partner.

"The vest," JJ answered and swiftly loosened one of the velcro strips of Emily's bulletproof vest. The dark-haired agent laughed again, finally releasing some of the tension that had build up inside her since they had prepared for entering the house to arrest their unsub.

"Really? Hmmmm…," Emily unfastened the piece of light body armour, smirking sexily now. "Well, I think there's a tear at one of the straps here. I should probably take it home and sew it back on proper."

"You can sew?" JJ asked. They looked into each other's eyes and then JJ wiggled her eyebrows. She leaned into Emily a little as she whispered: "That's so hot." Then she walked off in the direction of some reporters who were waiting to be briefed on the latest. Emily stayed back, smiling, looking after JJ and admiring the little sway that she knew was for her benefit only. She felt better now and she knew JJ would make sure she felt fantastic before the day was over.


	2. Like a Sonett

Emily was sitting on her couch, a book comfortably resting against her propped up leg. She looked relaxed but JJ could read her demeanor as thoughtful. Emily wasn't really reading, her eyes weren't moving.

The blonde leaned in the doorway, watching the other woman. Their current case was tough on Emily, she didn't talk about it but JJ could always tell. They had agreed not to bring work home or Emily would probably have pored over the case file instead of working through it in her mind.

JJ watched her lover a while longer, waiting to get noticed but Emily was deeply lost in the recesses of her mind - the dark ones that every member of the team usually kept to themselves. When JJ finally walked into the room, Emily looked up immediately as if feeling caught. She covered quickly with a smile, however.

"Hey," JJ said sitting next to her but then lying back so she could lay her head in Emily's lap. The dark-haired agent lifted her book and lowered her leg.

"Hey, you're late."

"I had to organize the search, have some people bring food for the volunteers, all that." Emily nodded and JJ could see her drifting back to that dark place she was trying to pull her from. "What're you reading?"

"Hm? Oh, Shakespeare… the sonetts."

"You're taking a break from the French philosophers?" JJ teased, smiling up at the woman she loved.

"I needed something lighter tonight," Emily said while her right hand carressed JJ's hair.

"And Shakespeare is light reading?" JJ laughed but Emily nodded, smiling. "Read me the one you were reading," the blonde then prompted. Emily rolled her eyes then made a show of clearing her throat before she recited:

'A woman's face with nature's own hand painted

Hast though, the master-mistress of my passion;

A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted

With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;

An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,

Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;

A man in hue, all hues in his controlling,

Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth;

And for a woman wert thou first created,

Till nature as she wrought thee fell a-doting,

And by addition me of thee defeated,

By adding one thing to my purpose nothing:

But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,

Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure.'

"Hmmm, it's perfect," JJ smiled up at Emily

"It's Shakespeare," Emily agreed.

"No, it's you. It describes you perfectly." Emily laughed.

"I'm not sure about the 'being pricked' part." JJ joined her in the laughter.

"Still, I see what he meant…. your gentleness, your bravery…"

"I'm not so brave," Emily argued but JJ smiled up at her, pushing her hand into the dark hair of her partner.

"You are," she simply said before pulling the other woman down for a lingering kiss.


	3. Emily Loves JJ

There had been times, she'd thought she was in love. There had been a time when she'd felt that first kiss as if it was piercing her heart, claiming her forever. But it had never stuck, it was never real. Until…

But how could it be? There had never been even the shyest of glances between them, it was all in the open, direct, unmistakable. Never a touch that needed to be shielded from anyone else's eyes. Wasn't love supposed to be the outcome of an attraction built? When had that first spark hit them?

She couldn't have missed it, surely. What was attraction if not a an announcing presence in the pit of your stomach, something that let the little hairs on your arms stand to attention and your pulse flutter in your neck?

Had she simply mistaken these signs for something else? Had their surroundings dulled her senses of self, did she ever only feel what the next unsub felt? Where did that first attraction find itself when it was ignored? Did it simply bury itself deeply in a folder with JJ's name on it, among the friendship, the care, the protection? Did it feel neglected and too shy to make itself known again, once ignored? Or did she misidentify it among her other feelings for the blonde? Was it still there in every look, in every small gesture? Did her fingertips maybe just tingle a little when she'd rubbed JJ's back in comfort? Did her arms hold on a little tighter when she'd hugged her? Did she feel JJ in that moment, her body, her breathing, her self tightly against her?

There had been something. There must have been something that had told her what she'd felt. Or else how could they have ended up where they were now? Where else would that feeling of rightness and acceptance have come from? Nothing had ever felt this good, nothing had ever lasted this long, nothing had ever left her this breathless yet full of life. She was in love. And now she knew how that felt, and now she didn't want to lose it ever again.


End file.
